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Ghana Morale
Morale in the Ghanaian armed forces has been influenced by
several factors. During the early post-independence period,
military morale suffered because of ethnic tensions and the low
esteem attached to the armed forces by the civilian sector. The
politicization of the army and jealousy between officers and noncommissioned officers also lowered morale. After the military
became more involved in politics, morale gradually improved. In the
ranks, however, esprit de corps remained low because of poor pay
and a lack of opportunities for education and promotion.
A 1979 purge of the armed forces reversed this trend. By the
late 1980s, morale throughout the armed forces was generally good
because service conditions and the public perception of the
military had improved. Also, the PNDC had reintroduced
professionalism into the army. After Ghana contributed troops to
the ECOMOG peacekeeping force in Liberia in mid-1990, however,
morale declined once more, especially among enlisted personnel, who
opposed what they perceived to be an open-ended commitment to a war
irrelevant to Ghana. Controversy arose when some individual
Ghanaian soldiers exploited their position as peacekeepers to
enrich themselves by engaging in black-market activities and other
questionable behavior.
Data as of November 1994
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